More on the shot to LaGroin

OK, this story just keeps getting funnier and funnier, although it might not seem so to Redskins #1 draft pick LaRon Landry.

Landry suffered a groin injury to a "sensitive area" during a team-building (?) exercise after the last OTA. The Redskins were tight-lipped about the story, leaving us to get more details from PFT by way of ExtremeSkins.

A rumored version of the story is up on PFT. You have to scroll to UNCONFIRMED REPORT OF LANDRY'S PAINTBALL-TO-THE-BALLSACK INCIDENT posted at 10:14 a.m. on June 17, 2007. PFT doesn't provide permalinks to individual stories, so here's the fair use summary of the post:

"A guy who knows the person who owns the paintball park at which Redskins safety LaRon Landry got hit in LaDong with a tiny ball of paint says Landry had 'shot' one of his Redskins teammates, knocking him out of the game. Then, Landry walked up to the player, who was on the ground at the time, and proclaimed that he was going to finish him off, execution style.

"The teammate then raised his paintball gun and shot Landry point-blank in the crotch."

An earlier version of this story implied that Landry was an innocent bystander in the event. Guess not.

So, what was the dialog like between football players in a paint ball contest?
_________________________
LANDRY: Oh, you mine, dawg. I'm gonna finish you execution style.

SHOOTER: You ain't my teammate yet, punk. Deal with THIS.

WAP

SHOOTER: Oh, you LaDonna now, bitch.
_________________________
This story is destined to live forever in Redskin lore. Like the shooting mystery of an earlier day, I'm trying to figure out who shot LR? Shawn Springs? Not his style. Carlos Rogers? Lacks the killer instinct. Fred Smoot? Knows a thing or two about groins, but Fred is more into laughs. David Macklin? Jerametrius Butler? Don't know much about them. Hard to say. However, there is one d-back I would not want to diss under any circumstances. I don't want to call his name (same name as Puffy), or number (21), because I don't know that it was him. And, I wouldn't want this particular player (initials "ST") to hunt me down and give me a shot in the balls. And neither do you, brother. Because, you know, that stuff hurts.

Now, the questions are:

• Did the activity bring the secondary together?
• Does a simulated combat experience toughen a defense sorely lacking toughness?


• Do LaRon's contract demands go up?


• Does this count as rookie hazing?


• Do we equate paint ball to dog fighting?

I looked for something on this story on Covering the Redskins. Covering doesn't post very often, so I've not added the site to my blogroll. I do check the site from time-to-time. He keeps his identity hidden, but writes with an insider's knowledge. Covering the Redskins was the first to put me on to Clinton Portis' comments about Michael Vick. A little research revealed the the site belongs to Bram Weinstein, who actually does cover the Redskins for the Snyder-owned 94.3/92.7/730 AM Radio. Covering is silent on this issue. If he comes up with anything, I'll link to it.

Photo: paintballpromotionsimg.com/
Photo: Donna Summer, http://www.ibabuzz.com/ found here.

On guard

Today's Post carries the story that OG Will Whitticker is making an impression during mini-camp. He's been filling in for Randy Thomas at right guard while Thomas recuperates from knee surgery. Whitticker doesn't figure to displace Thomas as starter on the right side, but over on the left . . . .

Todd Wade impressed at tackle last season as back-up to Jon Jansen. Coach Gibbs re-signed him, figuring he would replace departed left guard Derrick Dockery. Wade, at 6-8, is out-sized for guard and the transition from tackle to guard is not trivial. I've been thinking that OG Mike Pucillo has an even shot at the position. Last year, Pucillo often entered games as a "tackle eligible" for extra blocking on six-man fronts. Now, Whitticker, a natural guard with veteran experience, is raising eyebrows during mini-camp.

I expect the best man to win the slot, but I hope Whitticker -- who played for my alma mater -- makes the team. You can't have too many good linemen. Fifty-one percent of the success or failure of an offensive play is on the line.
_________________________

The Redskins released a state of condolence to the family of former player Justin Skaggs, who passed away last Friday as a result of a brain tumor.

Photo: www.willwhitticker.com

Not your father's defense for Redskins

One of the hallmarks of Gregg Williams' defense was the supremacy of the scheme over players. "Everyone's a starter," Williams said. Players were interchangeable. There were no stars -- but the coaches.

The philosophy worked in the first two years of the Gibbs II era. The Redskins defense ranked in the NFL's top 10 in '04 and '05, and was noted for its ferocity and pressure. It also meant that talent like LaVar Arrington was stifled. Arrington had his best years when he was healthy and encouraged to roam under the previous coaching regime. Gibbs' coaching staff saw Arrington as a wild card, interchangeable with Warrick Holdman who could be relied upon to be in the spot the coaches wanted him. Arrington, however, would make plays even from the wrong position. The defense fed off his fury. In the notorious conflict with linebacker coach Dale Lindsey, the coaching staff backed Lindsey rather than Arrington, who left the team in 2006 still nursing a mysterious knee injury.

The cosmos extracted payment for the Redskins' mistreatment of Arrington. Shawn Springs was never in good health. Pierson Prioleau, who won the starting safety role from Adam Archuleta, was struck down in a freak injury on the opening kick-off of the opening game and lost for the season. The Redskins rushed to bring in cornerbacks Mike Rumph and Kenny Wright. Neither would have made the team under normal circumstances. Lindsey, who mocked Arrington's mastery of the playbook even after he left the team, could not get rookie Rocky McIntosh up to snuff. Williams was forced to run schemes that compensated for weaknesses rather than pressure quarterbacks.

The theme in Jason LaCanfora's Washington Post story For the Redskins, It's Simple is Gregg Williams' new approach to defense that simplifies schemes and exploit athleticism this year.

"Williams, who declined to comment for this story, told players this offseason that he plans to get his best players to the point of attack as much as possible and give them more freedom, they said."

The Redskins intend to use more nickel and dime formations -- that's five and six cornerback sets for you uninitiated. The team expects to start Rocky McIntosh at linebacker, who has had a "superior offseason." (I have to wonder, again, at the owner's intrigue at trading for linebacker Lance Briggs if this was the plan. More nickel and dime formations usually means less weakside linebacker, thus less Lance Briggs or Rocky McIntosh.)

Williams will call for more cover-1 formations, with Sean Taylor at free safety to hunt for the ball, while strong safety LaRon Landry will "play close to the line of scrimmage to rush quarterbacks and help on run defense." Excuse me? Wouldn't the much maligned Adam Archuleta worked in that scheme? Instead, the Redskins used him in deep coverage, as they would have used Prioleau, and as they eventually used Troy Vincent and Vernon Fox. In fairness, changing coverage sets after the season starts is hard to do. It usually doesn't work. But the results couldn't have been any worse if they tried it. At least, they would have made better use of Archuleta, who was one of the top three tacklers when he was benched.

I'll be watching Archuleta's play with the Bears this season. Success in Chicago's cover-1, will be evidence that his failure here was on the Redskins for misuse of him. The Archuleta-Arrington experience may be the reason for Gregg Williams' openess to athleticism over scheme.

Photo: John McDonnell, The Washington Post

Musing about Jerametrius Butler

The Redskins signed CB Jerametrius Butler yesterday.

Joe Gibbs tried to sign Butler in 2004. That was the first year of his return to Washington, when the Skins traded Champ Bailey to Denver for Clinton Portis. Bailey made clear that he wanted out, and the Skins brought in Shawn Springs as the shutdown corner.

Why bring in Butler when Fred Smoot was still on the roster? Was Butler seen as a potential replacement of Smoot? Smootie, as coach Joe calls him, was the core Redskin allowed to leave when his contract expired at the end of 2004. The Skins drafted Carlos Rogers in 2005. Now Rogers, Smoot and Butler are on the same team.

The Redskins front office played this smart by waiting for Butler's release by the Rams, rather than trying to work a trade. Maybe they (D. Snyder) learned a thing or two since the Mark Brunell trade and the excesses of 2006. Take note that nothing ever came of those rumors that the Redskins would nuke the front office. Perhaps instead they just dumped the foolish aggression in roster building that characterized the Snyder era. Hey, a man can change. And another man can hope.

Reasonable free-agent signings, hopefully smart draft picks and rational salary cap management are sound front office practices I hope continues. Skill at managing the cap should be secondary to skill at building a roster.

Jerametrius Butler Q&A

Photo: found on deadskin.com

Why the Redskins are like soap opera

You can skip a week and come back to find the same dialog as the last time.

I'm coming up for air after taking a week off and find the Washington Redskin conversation is pretty much the same as when I left. CP is laying low, thanks to knee tendinitis and foot-in-mouth. Michael Vick is still in deep doo-doo with allegations of dog fighting. Things are so slow in the Redskins doldrums that even Curly Ben is reduced to posting a Vick story or two.

Thankfully, the Redskins full team mini-camp begins in two weeks. That's a ripe opportunity to magnify the trivial to sharpen those writing skills for the season. Here's what you can expect: unknown rookie hopeful signed to a contract; another unknown rookie hopeful cut. Signing and cutting unknown rookie hopefuls signifies nothing since the Skins are auditioning as many of these guys as possible. Some may make it on the practice squad; one might make the team.

Covering The Redskins points out that coaches are concerned about injuries to unknown rookie hopefuls who won't make the team. Aside from the expense, coaches have gone through the drill. More than a few of them lost their own playing dreams to injury. I think they are sympathetic to the hopeful unknowns, even as they are about to cut their butts.

And the hopefuls? If they don't make it with Washington, they can try out for another team. Being cut early is no tragedy. Time is still on your side for this season. Being the last is the unkindest cut of all.

Redskins begin poopie pick-up

There you go. Try and get away for a few days rest, and players go and stick their paws in their mouths.

The Washington Redskins started their campaign to clean up the dog mess created by Clinton Portis at the Redskins Beach Blitz last weekend in Virginia Beach. The team issued a terse press release disavowing any support of dog fighting and apologized to anyone offended by Clinton Portis' statements. That followed an even more terse statement released by Portis on Monday that he did not condone dog fighting.

A very serious looking Portis was interviewed on the NFL Network to clarify his statement. I don't think he was successful. He did not back off his opinion that dog fighting is a less serious crime than the penalties call for. He seemed to mix two themes in his interview, the first being that dog fighting should not be a felony; and second, nothing has been proved against Vick, thus, the negative attention is unwarranted. His mixed message is going to confuse as much as explain, I'm afraid.

Asked about the felony status of dog fighting, Portis pointed out that hunters and fishermen kill animals. He is against killing animals. That will please PETA. It will surely offend hunters and fishermen. I don't think a lot of PETAphiles are football fans. I'm very sure a lot of hunters are. In defending himself, Portis will not satisfy dog lovers, but will bring down the wrath of hunters. He did not distinguish that hunting is legal, while dog fighting is not. While that's his point, it's also the point he seems to miss about dog fighting.

Asked about his guarantee that the Redskins would go to the NFC championship game, Portis said this year, with the talent on the roster, was the best opportunity for the Redskins to make it. After this year, he expected the team to be broken up in some way, especially if they do not win. He did not say who he thought could be released. For Washington Redskins fans, this was the big news; that year four of the second Gibbs era was make or brake. If the team does not make it past the conference championship, “I think we are going to see a lot of things unfolding and a lot of people go.”

I'm very worried for our boy Clinton. His defense of Vick has been clumsy to the extreme -- in a post-teen-ager kinda way. Portis' comments will haunt him all season. I believe most true Redskin fans will support him -- eventually -- because he is our own. Everywhere else, Portis is in for the T.O treatment, which will come as a great relief to Terrell Owens. In the future, Clinton should leave these interviews to his agent, Drew Rosenhaus.

Next question.

Goodell Slams Remarks By Portis

Photo: sptimes.com

Brandon Lloyd to Help Physically Challenged Teens Learn to Dive

OK, I'm skeptical about Brandon Lloyd as the Washington Redskins #2 receiver. Like the man who feels he paid too much for what he got, I've questioned the deal that brought him here. It's all from the guilt of gushing over his signing last season when I called him "gifted."

[Don't gloat. If I search your blog, I'd find the same. In fact, the overall "gushiness" in my posts about the '06 off-season led to a skepticism this year. I hope that's skepticism without over-reaction.]

Brandon is about to do something good, so I want to balance things out by pointing fingers at what he's doing to help teen-agers.

Redskins' Brandon Lloyd to Help Physically Challenged Teens Learn to Dive

Photo: www.redskins.com

M4C to skip voluntary blogging OTAs next week

It's the slow season of blogging the Washington Redskins when writers like me do our best to make something of nothing. I personally am blogging the latest on Sanjaya and puppy killers (for that's what Michael Vick will be tagged if there really is video tape of him attending dog fights.)

The Redskins are reporting that Marcus Washington has resumed practice (relief), but that Clinton Portis has developed tendinitis (uh-oh). This could be big news or non-news. We don't and won't know until the Redskins start playing some games.

With the Redskins' suck-your-money-fest coming up in Virginia Beach this weekend, and Ben at The Curly R back online, this is a good time for Master4caster to take a break. So I'm going to skip next week's OTAs in the run-up to Memorial Day. Heck, it's all voluntary anyway and I want a new contract from the Redskins to continue to perform at this level.

While I look for Drew Rosenhaus' phone number, you guys check the Redskins news scroll and excellent blogrollers to your right.

Redskins to rookies: come with experience

So far, the thing in common about the first three Washington Redskins signings after the rookie mini-camp is that hey have an NFL track record.

Derrick Blaylock

Zach Hilton

Adrian Madise

So, why did they call it "rookie camp?" Rooks may be signed, or may be on the radar screen for a future call. The Redskins are notorious for their preference for veterans, so these signings aren't a surprise, really.

Blaylock might make the team as the number three back. His task is to show that he's overcome whatever issue kept him out of the NFL in recent years.

The Post says the Redskins are thin at tight end. News to me. Hilton will compete for a blocking tight end role. Are the Redskins looking for an upgrade from a young, healthy TE? Will we see more two-wide, two tight-end, single back formations this season? Or, does Al Saunders have a man-crush on tight ends? (Oooh, that's bad. I did NOT mean that the way it came out.)

Almost anyone can challenge for Brandon Lloyd's slot at #2 wide receiver, but raise your hand if you think it's Madise. Does he return punts?

Washington Redskins draft options

Washington's major dailies are weighing in on the Redskins options in the run-up to the draft on April 28.

Ryan O'Halloran at the Times compiles the number of picks that potential trade-down partners have in the first three rounds of the draft. The Atlanta Falcons, a frequently mentioned trade partner, have three of the first 44 picks. They could be enticed to exchange their #8 and #39 picks in exchange for the Redskins #6. This scenario is plausible because the Washington Redskins have a need for defensive linemen and have been impressed by Louisville's Amobi Okoye, who coincidentally was coached by Atlanta's Bobby Petrino, Louisville's coach last season. The Falcons, supposedly would use the #6 pick on Okoye or safety LaRon Landry.

The money quote in O'Halloran's story:

This draft simply isn't full of top-end talents that have teams drooling and desperate to move into the top 10.

Could it be that everyone wants to trade down because the first rounders aren't worth the money they will demand?

The gee whiz factor in O'Halloran's story is that the San Francisco 49ers have eight of the first 135 picks. With picks galore, a willingness to acquire players, and a beast for a running back, it's just a matter of time before San Francisco returns to glory, and cap hell. Saints-49ers in the 2008 conference championship game? You heard it here first.

Of course, a willingness to acquire hasn't helped the Redskins. Three years from now, lets compare San Francisco's and Washington's won-loss record and draw yet another inference on building through the draft versus building through "proven commodities."

I once worked for the world's largest technology company. There's an old joke about sales reps from that company that goes

How can you tell when the [world's largest technology company] rep is lying?

His lips are moving.

(Just for the record, I never lied. But then, my lips are moving.)

Jason LaCanfora, just back from paternity leave (thank you Hogs Haven for pointing that out), penned The Lying Game on his Redskins Insider blog at the Post. LaCanfora points out the hazards of believing everything - or anything - you hear in the run-up to the draft. Teams are posturing to gain some advantage. Call it the kick-off to the game between the seasons.

Detroit "loves Gaines Adams," according to rumblings picked up by LaCanfora. That confounds mock drafkateers who penciled in JaMarcus Russell or Calvin Johnson, who ever of the two Oakland doesn't take, as the Lions first pick. If that happens, Russell or Johnson could be available by the sixth pick. If it's Russell, the Skins chances to trade down go way up. If it's Johnson, the Redskins should keep him and go to sleep until the second day of the draft. Yes, I recall that the Redskins selected Taylor Jacobs under similar circumstances. Johnson didn't go to Florida and Steve Spurrier didn't hang around. So, there.

This scenario only plays out if Detroit truly prefers Gaines Adams. But then, Detroit's lips are moving.


Photo: Coach Mike Nolan, Chronicle/Mike Maloney http://www.sfgate.com/
Photo: LSU's Calvin Johnson, http://www.nationalchamps.net/

So, what's your blog worth?

It's the slow period before the draft when teams go quiet to hide their intent. I don't expect to see big NFL news until draft day, or just before the draft. Time to muse.

For serious football bloggers, this is a difficult time. You work to build a following. You blog frequently because readers demand new content. My Running Redskins readers spend two minutes or less per visit. Story frequency keeps them coming back. So it hurts when teams aren't generating news for bloggers to over-analyze. Curse you, off-season.

So, what's the value of a blog anyway, especially when it's non-commercial? It turns out that people who think about those things value web logs on the basis of links. The more others link to you, the more valuable your blog. Technorati calls it "authority," and they use it to rank search results. Call it the "50 million monkeys can't be wrong" theory. If a lot of people link to a post, then that post must be relevant to the topic. Relevance gets you promoted to the top of the search list.

Other thinkers put a theoretical value on a blog based on the number and value of incoming links, whose value is similarly assigned by the value their incoming links. That adds a financial element to the evaluation. Your blog is more valuable when high value blogs link to you. (That's a lot of computing power by somebody to track all that.)

There are a couple of sites that figure this out for you. At Dane Carlson's Business Opportunities Weblog, you put in the URL for a blog and it will calculate its theoretical worth based on the link-to-value ratio underlying the 2005 AOL-WeblogsInc deal. According to them, Running Redskins is worth $7339.02. I think of myself as small, but influential.

The more engaging way is to go to Blogshares and search your blog. Better yet, join the Blogshares marketplace and play the game. With a little time and practice, you can become a high stakes market manipulator of the blogosphere.

Blogshares is a hypothetical stock market that treats blogs as businesses, post as products, and use incoming and outgoing links to calculate intrinsic value. But, in the game, you (anyone) buy and sell shares in the blogs. The frequency of buy-sell activity affect market price, and your portfolio value. The supply-demand feature is where the fun happens. On Blogshares, Running Redskins is valued at $4462.78, with a share price of $122.15. (Blogshares says I'm over valued. Hurmph!). Blogshares always under counts the number of links on Running Redskins. I suppose that affects value.

Fortunately, I get to buy and sell other blogs and invest in commodities. My Blogshares net worth is B$60,683,388.65. That's all funny money, I hasten to add. Serious players get into tools that allow market manipulation and hostile takeovers. I'm not a serious player, but have been hostilely bought out of blogs at outrageous profit. That's all funny money, too.

Fellow bloggers should know this is all a game. Nothing about Blogshares affects real ownership of blogs. Owners can claim their blog in Blogshares by registering and placing some HTML code on their site. That adds the Blogshares badge to their site so Blogshares' spider will recognize the claim.

No more time for this. I'm going over to Blogshares and buy controlling interests in Hogs Haven and DC Sports Kid, while waiting for football news.

Asante Samuel wants this much

Redskins fans have a more than passing interest in Asante Samuel's negotiations with the Patriots. Yahoo Sports snipped a story from The Boston Globe providing the numbers, and how far apart the two sides are.

"Samuel's representatives were seeking a contract that included about $30 million to be paid out in the first three years of the deal.

"The Patriots were offering a package that averaged around $6 million per season, and although it is not known how much money would be paid out in the first three years, one thing is clear: It wasn't close to the $30 million Samuel was seeking . . . ."

It seems Mr. Samuel is angling for a deal akin to Nate Clements' contract with the San Francisco 49ers. Can't blame the man for trying. The Patriots' offer looks about the same as Denver's deal with Dre' Bly. Can't blame them for trying, either.

Clements signed an eight year $80 Million deal with the 49ers on the first day of free agency. $22 Million was guaranteed. Bly agreed to a five year $33 Million contract extension with the Denver Broncos.

The Redskins did not pursue Clements because of the price tag. In Samuel, they could face the same issue. If Asante wants to take a Dre' Bly-type deal, won't he be inclined to stay with New England? Stay tuned.

I hear every front office in the NFL put up a 49er poster to throw darts at.

Photo: Asante Samuel, wwwnflplayers.com